Someone needs to take this person and her lawyer out and strike them repeatedly about the head and shoulders with a sack full of nickles until they apologize and promise to never step foot in a courthouse again.

Assume everything she says is true, and that her professor willfully and maliciously gave her a bad grade not because of her performance, but because of a personal or ideological vendetta. Assume further that because of that one grade, she was unable to ever obtain a particular professional certification that carries with it significantly greater earning potential. Should there be no remedy available for that?

Before filing her lawsuit, Thode filed complaints with the university over the C+ grade, showing up at meetings with her father, the finance professor. She sought a written apology from Carr, the course instructor, and a "plan for compensating me financially," notes The Morning Call

kronicfeld:Assume everything she says is true, and that her professor willfully and maliciously gave her a bad grade not because of her performance, but because of a personal or ideological vendetta. Assume further that because of that one grade, she was unable to ever obtain a particular professional certification that carries with it significantly greater earning potential. Should there be no remedy available for that?

Assume that had I studied harder in High School, I might have gotten a scholarship and not been sitting on a shiat ton of student loans. Can I go back and sue my high school for that? If you want something and are willing and able to do the work, one grade in one class will not prevent you from doing so. Even in medical school they don't wash you out for failing one class.

Is there some sort of rule at Lehigh where you aren't allowed to retake a class? Obviously I don't have all the facts, but how is it that a single grade that is two-thirds of a grade point lower than what she needed something so devastating not only to her academic progress but to her career as well?

She should take some advice from football players. A bad call late in the 4th causes you to lose by a field goal? Guess you should have been up by more than 2 points. If getting a zero for participation causes you to get a C+ and submarine your GPA so much that it destroys the career you were gunning for, you weren't doing well enough in the class to begin with.

kronicfeld:Assume everything she says is true, and that her professor willfully and maliciously gave her a bad grade not because of her performance, but because of a personal or ideological vendetta. Assume further that because of that one grade, she was unable to ever obtain a particular professional certification that carries with it significantly greater earning potential. Should there be no remedy available for that?

Ennuipoet:Assume that had I studied harder in High School, I might have gotten a scholarship and not been sitting on a shiat ton of student loans. Can I go back and sue my high school for that?

You just completely changed the fact pattern. You specifically make yours about performance. Mine assumed performance was not the issue. Care to answer my actual question, or am I wasting my time here?

exick:If getting a zero for participation causes you to get a C+ and submarine your GPA so much that it destroys the career you were gunning for, you weren't doing well enough in the class to begin with.

As I read the admittedly piss-poor article, a particular grade was needed in that specific class. If that's not the case, you're right, that could have a huge impact on the analysis.

kronicfeld:Assume everything she says is true, and that her professor willfully and maliciously gave her a bad grade not because of her performance, but because of a personal or ideological vendetta. Assume further that because of that one grade, she was unable to ever obtain a particular professional certification that carries with it significantly greater earning potential. Should there be no remedy available for that?

I don't know. Usually that kind of thing can be argued when it is happening. I my Data Structures 1 class in college saw me with only 2 other white boys in the class. The professor was a hot Chinese chick. She appeared to hate white guys. I always had outstanding coding projects and tired to give me a low C on one (TA's fault). Luckily, I talked to other students in the class an found out others had better grades than I with projects that didn't run or compile or have a smidge of documentation whereas mine was extremely well documented, compiled, ran, and gave proper output. I argued and proved my case for over an hour until she boosted my grade to a 94...the lowest on any coding project I did while in college.

I don't know if she gave me the grade because I did a better job than others who had a higher initial grade or because of the fact that I *knew* other students with much worse projects who were willing to openly concede that my project was better (meaning an appeal to a higher level may have held water...not that I pushed that angle).

kronicfeld:exick: If getting a zero for participation causes you to get a C+ and submarine your GPA so much that it destroys the career you were gunning for, you weren't doing well enough in the class to begin with.

As I read the admittedly piss-poor article, a particular grade was needed in that specific class. If that's not the case, you're right, that could have a huge impact on the analysis.

If that class was, in fact, a single-point-failure risk, AND she attended class and participated, then yeah, she may well have a point here.

kronicfeld:You just completely changed the fact pattern. You specifically make yours about performance. Mine assumed performance was not the issue. Care to answer my actual question, or am I wasting my time here?

OK, serious answer. If there were evidence of personal bias from that individual professor then address that to the University Ombudsman which exists for exactly this purpose. I see no evidence of this presented in the article, the facts as presented in court may be different. What I DO see is someone who chose a civil case to redress a personal failure, a lawyer who is presenting a spurious case and a waste of legal resources.

Add to this a person who received a free education and graduated with a Master Degree, and has the temerity to then sue the institution which gave it to her, and you have what can only be described as a callow asshole.

kronicfeld:scottydoesntknow: Biatch you got a mother-farking free ride and you WANT money?

She had a free ride anyway. Assuming her allegations are true, how does that fact exonerate the professor?

I'm not assuming her allegations are true. You're the only one assuming things here (and 75% of your posts so far contain the word "assume"). I'm going by the facts. And yes, the fact that she got a completely free ride, still walked out with a masters, and then chose to sue 4 YEARS LATER, makes her a biatch.

doyner:If that class was, in fact, a single-point-failure risk, AND she attended class and participated, then yeah, she may well have a point here.

Based on reading the requirements for the degree track she was on at Lehigh's website, there are a few classes that have to be passed with a particular grade or better before moving on. However, I see nothing that precludes retaking a class in order to improve the grade. And considering that one of the required courses for her degree is Diversity and Multicultural Perspectives, I find her claim that she was treated poorly because of her support of LGBT causes to be spurious at best.

Perhaps she was like some other students who don't pay a dime for their education, they don't take it seriously enough. She didn't take it serious, she got bad marks. Now, years later, she has realized that all that goofing off has cost her, so she's looking to hold someone accountable for it.

It has been my experience that the grades I got in school have become irrelevant in the working world. Never has it come up during a job interview though my GPA was asked a few times on application forms, which I just left blank. Success is about hard work and whatnot, not what some jackwagon thinks about what you think. Though I will admit I had a rough time finding gainful employment after school, though that was all my fault.

Hamburg pointed out that Thode is the daughter of Lehigh finance professor Stephen Thode. One of the perks of that relationship was that she was able to enroll in the Lehigh graduate program tuition-free. The school provided her with a job as well. She also got to attend York College of Pennsylvania at no charge as an undergraduate thanks to her Lehigh connections, says The Call.

This explains so much. How do you spell entitled biatch? T-H-O-D-E.

Lehigh's lawyers allege that Thode's behavior in class was not acceptable for someone seeking a master's degree in counseling. On at least one occasion, they said, she used profanity in class. Another time, she broke down crying.

And she wants to be a counselor. Riiiight.

Before filing her lawsuit, Thode filed complaints with the university over the C+ grade, showing up at meetings with her father, the finance professor.

"Daddy, come help me!"

This is a lousy person who should be laughed out of court, and out of town, and out of the local diner.

kronicfeld:Assume everything she says is true, and that her professor willfully and maliciously gave her a bad grade not because of her performance, but because of a personal or ideological vendetta. Assume further that because of that one grade, she was unable to ever obtain a particular professional certification that carries with it significantly greater earning potential. Should there be no remedy available for that?

Sure there should. Assuming she can actually PROVE any of those things.

Why should we make that assumption? Just as a thought exercise? Because nothing in this article or others, nor in the actions and situation outlined in this article, suggests that her claims are true. So what would be the point in assuming that she is, in fact, telling the complete truth and that a professor conspired to keep her grade down?

scottydoesntknow:kronicfeld: scottydoesntknow: Biatch you got a mother-farking free ride and you WANT money?

She had a free ride anyway. Assuming her allegations are true, how does that fact exonerate the professor?

I'm not assuming her allegations are true. You're the only one assuming things here (and 75% of your posts so far contain the word "assume"). I'm going by the facts. And yes, the fact that she got a completely free ride, still walked out with a masters, and then chose to sue 4 YEARS LATER, makes her a biatch.

No, you're assuming her allegations are false. It's still an assumption even if you don't use the word "assume", you know...

Why should we make that assumption? Just as a thought exercise? Because nothing in this article or others, nor in the actions and situation outlined in this article, suggests that her claims are true. So what would be the point in assuming that she is, in fact, telling the complete truth and that a professor conspired to keep her grade down?

Well, that means that the case might actually have merit. Frankly there's nothing in that article to suggest that her claims are false, either...

scottydoesntknow:Before filing her lawsuit, Thode filed complaints with the university over the C+ grade, showing up at meetings with her father, the finance professor. She sought a written apology from Carr, the course instructor, and a "plan for compensating me financially," notes The Morning Call

Biatch you got a mother-farking free ride and you WANT money?

I hate everything about this woman.

Look on the bright side. Any potential employers will now be able to instantly deem her "not what we're looking for" based on a simple google of her name.

UberDave:kronicfeld: Assume everything she says is true, and that her professor willfully and maliciously gave her a bad grade not because of her performance, but because of a personal or ideological vendetta. Assume further that because of that one grade, she was unable to ever obtain a particular professional certification that carries with it significantly greater earning potential. Should there be no remedy available for that?

I don't know. Usually that kind of thing can be argued when it is happening. I my Data Structures 1 class in college saw me with only 2 other white boys in the class. The professor was a hot Chinese chick. She appeared to hate white guys. I always had outstanding coding projects and tired to give me a low C on one (TA's fault). Luckily, I talked to other students in the class an found out others had better grades than I with projects that didn't run or compile or have a smidge of documentation whereas mine was extremely well documented, compiled, ran, and gave proper output. I argued and proved my case for over an hour until she boosted my grade to a 94...the lowest on any coding project I did while in college.

I don't know if she gave me the grade because I did a better job than others who had a higher initial grade or because of the fact that I *knew* other students with much worse projects who were willing to openly concede that my project was better (meaning an appeal to a higher level may have held water...not that I pushed that angle).

If it's a small program, then the professor in question might be the *only* one who teaches the course...

Then she'd know exactly how to improve the second time around and/or would be able to build a rock solid case regarding discrimination, since she'd be going into it knowing what would to expect and what would take place.

So a professor's kid goes to college, acts like an entitled coont (swearing and crying in class, as though the regular rules of civil behaviour don't apply to her), gets called on her attitude, then goes running to her daddy and, furthermore, has the audacity to claim discrimination based on sexuality, because she's dabbled in gay culture a little, maybe has a gay friend and audited a class on gender issues?

Hmmmm.... Did she not show up to class? If she did, and was in any way participatory, then a zero seems odd.

Same thing happened to me in college. Averaged 97 on tests and hw got a c grade. Professor changed the grading away from as stated in the syllabus. He apparently had a habit of changing the grading scheme randomly against university policy and was suspended for a year. Of course the school didnt change the grade, only punish the prof.

kronicfeld:Assume further that because of that one grade, she was unable to ever obtain a particular professional certification that carries with it significantly greater earning potential.

If she really wanted to continue to pursue that degree program, she could go to a different school. She didn't lose a career; she chose to not continuing pursuing that program. I don't know Lehigh's policies, but could she not have repeated the course for a better grade in order to move on? If she had attempted the course again and had the same instructor and still not gotten a better grade, then maybe, just maybe there is something there, but I'm not buying it. It sounds like she didn't want to put in the required work; she just wanted to ride daddy's coattails get a free education and the degree she wanted.

kronicfeld:Assume everything she says is true, and that her professor willfully and maliciously gave her a bad grade not because of her performance, but because of a personal or ideological vendetta. Assume further that because of that one grade, she was unable to ever obtain a particular professional certification that carries with it significantly greater earning potential. Should there be no remedy available for that?

kronicfeld:Assume everything she says is true, and that her professor willfully and maliciously gave her a bad grade not because of her performance, but because of a personal or ideological vendetta. Assume further that because of that one grade, she was unable to ever obtain a particular professional certification that carries with it significantly greater earning potential. Should there be no remedy available for that?

Yeah, there should be a remedy in your completely hypothetical example. What does that have to do with this story?

If it's a small program, then the professor in question might be the *only* one who teaches the course...

So suck it up and retake the class. In the real world there 'might' be only one boss that you have to get along with. And if you don't like your boss, you either suck it up or move on. or be a whiny little shiat that nobody likes lol

That may or may not be an option. Grad programs sometimes don't allow that option (in any realistic manner*). I'm not saying she's *definitely* right, mind you, I'd wager it's probably 80:20 that she's full of it. I'm just somewhat taken aback by the vitriol being tossed her way by pretty much everyone in this thread. It's *possible* there's merit to her suit. I'd bet against it, but it's not impossible.

I saw a major red flag as soon as I realised that the degree in question was a master's in counselling. Then I realised that this starts to look like a case of someone who was not suited to that profession because of their own personality issues, refusing to accept that they were at fault. Yes I know I wasn't there but I am very suspicious. From the article "Lehigh's lawyers allege that Thode's behavior in class was not acceptable for someone seeking a master's degree in counseling. On at least one occasion, they said, she used profanity in class. Another time, she broke down crying. "

It is notable that although she claims 3 other students also complained about being told to find more internships - yet she is the only one suing. Apparently the only one with a problem. And the "prof discriminated against me because of my interest in gay and lesbian issues" thing sounds like delusional bullshiat. I doubt that the professor would care that much about occasional swearing in class either - quite likely this girl was causing major scenes in class and being unreasonable and unbalanced, and unable to see beyond her own issues. These are not qualities one wants in a counsellor.